Troubled Minds
by animaniacsqueen
Summary: An outcast, a freak, insane...it's all he's ever seemed to be. (Full summary inside)


_Summary: An outcast, a freak, insane...it's all he's ever seemed to be. Tommy couldn't take it anymore so he ran. He didn't know running away would take him to the only people he'd never thought he'd see. His family. Torn between trusting them and his own inner demons, Tommy's about to get a hell of a wake up call. And things are just going to get uglier. Can the Warners held their brother before he loses himself for good?_

Hello everyone!

I can't believe I'm finally writing for this fanfic idea of mine! This story has been in the process for over two years now. I finally got the inspiration and motivation to write this. And it took me like what? FOUR plot changes?! Ugh stupid perfectionist side...

Anyway I know I have another fanfics which I haven't updated in so long, but I've struck a writer's block for those fanfics and until I'm out of that stump I'll write for them again. Don't think I'm giving up on those stories! NU UH! I still want to write for them! I just need to find the inspiration back again. That and I need to figure out somethings for my other Animaniacs fanfic. Expect something around Christmas time.

Also I've had this idea posted on my profile for some time now, but a few things have changed. One is my character's age, which I've made fifteen instead of the previous age of twelve. And second it is not on my profile, but let's just say those four plot changes really change somethings around.

Alright I'm gonna wrap up this author note before I get ahead of myself. You readers have a long chapter ahead of you! So I'll stop talking now! Enjoy reading!

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Chapter 1: Freak

 _Okay, on three. One...two…_

"THREE!"

With all the strength he could muster Tommy brought up his upper chest and reached out to grab the branch for the third time. His fingers brushed the higher branch and with a stomach dropping failure gravity forced him back down. He screamed out a curse when he slammed back into the tree's trunk, the repeated action finally getting to him. He's taken plenty of hits, but when you're dealing with rough bark hitting your back it's calling for bruises.

As the rope securing Tommy's feet swayed back and forth, the upside down toon recoiled at the pounding in his head. He had been stuck here for how long? Maybe a few minutes, a half hour maybe, but he didn't care about that. What he did care about was how pissed Ms. Margaret was going to be if he didn't get out of this damn tree in the next hour.

Despite the blood rushing to his head, he was plenty focused to know the darkening rain clouds above was another reason to get the hell out of these woods.

"I hate you Terence." He hissed. Tommy attempted to bring his upper body up, but the aches he felt from constant hits to the trunk made him fall back in utter failure. "...I fucking hate you." He sighed and his arms dropped. What use was it now?

The silence of the woods made it to his ears. If he ignored the pounding of his heart, along with the thundering in the distance, it was quiet peaceful. Tommy closed his eyes, wanting to clear his head and just forget where he'd landed himself into.

But the reminders were all over his aching body. The stiffness in his spine along with the throbbing was thanks to his attempts of reaching the branch above and getting rid of the blasted rope tied at his ankles. The rope itself was a burden. It rubbed against his ankles like sandpaper, probably turning his ankles red underneath his fur.

If he could he would let feel the back of his skull for the potential bump that had grown there. It still hurt. Tommy had to be glad those idiots hadn't given him a concussion. He didn't need more brain damage.

That thought made a scowl spread on his face. Man the blood must've really gone to his head. You know what? That's it. He was getting out of this tree.

He gave his head a good shake and focused back to freeing himself once more. Swaying his upper body back and forth the rope copied his movements. Soon he was swinging himself a good foot up.

 _Gotta time this right._ Tommy swung his upper body back with the flow of the sway. At the last moment he swung forward forcing the speed of the sway to increase in velocity. He gasped trying to make a grab for the higher branch, but his fingers were inches away and he fell back into the swing once more. Cursing he repeated the action of swaying himself higher.

"Come on. Come on!" He chanted swinging as far as he could and reached out for the branch.

Crack! That's the sound the branch made once his hand curled its fingers around it snapping the smaller twigs. He shouted in victory, but it was short lived when another crack came from the branch. Tommy yelped when the portion of branch he grabbed broke, but his quick reflexes saved him and he grabbed the thicker part of the branch with his opposite hand

The woods went quiet once again as Tommy's heart was pounding in his head. Soon a giant smile spread on the toon's face.

"Hell yeah! Ha!" He whooped in joy bringing his other hand to grab the branch.

Using the strength he had he wrapped his arms around it and thrusted his leg up and to which he quickly wrapped around the branch. The rest of his body pulled up and he twisted himself upright into the branch. Quick relief flooded him as the blood in his head rushed back down, leaving him lightheaded for brief moments. Once he composed himself and the dots in his eyes had cleared he brought his feet to where he could see them. He grimaced at the amount of red he found under his fur once the ropes had been untied. Tommy shook his head and tossed the rope carelessly, letting it fall back to the forsaken ground. Scooting back on the branch his back laid against the trunk and he sighed relaxing against it.

He did it. He finally did it.

Dragging his hand down his face Tommy soon looked around. The area wasn't as filled with trees, so that meant he wasn't too far into the woods. Good. He didn't want to be stuck here any longer than he needed to.

He saw the ground wasn't too far from where he sat Tommy let his legs hang off the branch. With a jump he got off. A thud against the grassy ground was the only sound with Tommy's frantic yelps as he stumbled before steadying himself. It felt weird being on his feet again. He felt lightheaded again, but a shake of his head fixed that.

"Stupid woods." Tommy said looking to his clothes. Pieces of bark clinged onto his sweater, more so on his back than anywhere else. He dusted as much of it off as possible. That's when a crack of thunder made him jump. Droplets of water followed.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." The toon felt the water starting to soak through and he jogged off away from the tree.

A good few minutes or so the foster home made it's way into view through all the trees. By then Tommy had his teeth chattering and hugged himself for warmth. He was soaked down to his fur. He bet he smelled like wet dog and rotten wood. The wind cut through and Tommy braced himself against it, wishing he had his hat. Maybe then he could see without water flooding his eyes.

The toon brushed his wet hair out of his face while trying to remove the water running down from it as he made a beeline for the building. The rain matched it's gloomy conditions. It had been built to home a lot of people with those three floors, it could've fit a rich ma's ego if the place had better care. Tommy had worked in the front yard enough times to know patio was overrun with vines, the grass mowed to be at least decent and hedges were trimmed, yet you could always spot a poking leaf or twig. If you slapped on a fresh coat of paint, replace the backyard's rickety fence, and fix the broken window on the first floor, then yeah it'd be great place to live.

For someone else.

The fence's lock gave away with a creak and Tommy entered the backyard. He closed the wooden gate with a grimace as it gave off a squeaky creak despite his attempts to quiet it. Thankfully with the rushing wind and thundering clouds he bet no one heard.

Hugging his arms he jogged to the door in the back of the house, glad for the awning deck there. He shook his head, making his wet hair flap around, spreading droplets of water. Wiping as much of the water from his face he presumed to wring his sweater.

"That's just great." He remarked only to have succeeded in wrinkling the damn sweater. Not any drier too.

With a groan he faced the door. Biting his lip he grasped the doorknob. The click made him freeze. Several seconds as no sound came from the other side he eased the door open. Tommy subtly slipped inside, coming into the kitchen. Looking around he could see no one. His ear lifted for sound. He could hear conversation from afar, lots of movement too, but as far as he could tell nothing coming his way. The door closed with a soft click and the toon tiptoed in. As he was making his way for the doorway out to the hall he saw the bowl of apples on the counter. That one glance was all he needed for his stomach to growl in hunger.

He froze hoping that hadn't been loud, despite the fact it hadn't. His heart was beating in his chest, to the point he thought someone could hear it. He just needed to get to his room, get out of these wet clothes, and make it seem like he'd been there the whole time. No questions asked.

But another growl from his stomach told him maybe slipping one apple or two wouldn't hurt. Just as long as he was quick.

Tommy hastily turned, not in time for him to register the water puddle his soaking clothes had made just for him. He did a classic banana peel slip, hands waving frantically in the air as he yelped and hit the floor with a thud letting a curse slip from him. Groaning he sat up holding a hand to his aching back. He was starting to wonder if a chiropractor would be on his list of doctors he needed to see.

Using the counter to lift himself up he arched his back getting his spine to give away with a pop and he sighed rubbing the back of his neck. Today was really not his day.

A growl from his stomach reminded him why he was still in the kitchen in the first place and he looked to the bowl of apples before him. Wasting no time he grabbed two stuffing them into his sweater pockets before grabbing two more, quickly biting into the one he grabbed.

"Mr. Thomas. Will you explain to me why you are soaking wet and dripping on the kitchen floor?"

Tommy practically choked on the apple he had been eating when that voice broke the silence. Forcing himself to swallow he groaned internally. He had been hoping to avoid her. Curse his stomach.

Taking the bitten apple from his mouth he spun around keeping the two apples behind him as he gave Ms. Margaret his best I did nothing wrong smile. He was shot down by her concerned frown. It was like she was trying to guilt him into telling her what happened. For a forty year old woman who looked like she came straight from the 1950's she sure wasn't dumb. If he ignored the ridiculous getup she wore of an ankle length navy blue dress with jean pockets at the chest and the picnic pattern bandana tied at her neck then she wasn't that bad. She had a tannish complexion which, to be fair, was a bit much. Gray hairs could be seen at her roots since unlike most times she had her hair down, keeping those loose hazel strands behind one ear.

Meeting her gaze concern and a hint of tiredness filled her smokey gray eyes. You could tell she handles a lot, the faint bags under eyes gave it away. If he was anyone else he would feel sorry for her. No one dreams of handling over a dozen of orphaned kids, let alone teenagers.

But no. He's not going to feel sorry. He'd jump off a building before he did that.

"Mr. Thomas I'm waiting."

Tommy was jolted back to reality. He found her gaze again to be one of worry. He held back a scowl and gave her a wry smile, the best he could do.

"Sorry miss for the...mess." He said gesturing an elbow to the water. "I got um caught in the rain."

"So I see." She said eyeing his soaked appearance. He thought she would let him go, but then came those worried eyes and pity face.

"Tommy?" He resisted the want to cringe at the amount of concern slapped onto her voice. He hated that stupid tone, he hated it every time she used it.

"You've been gone for over an hour." She informed him. He gulped trying not to give himself away to the human.

"Oh really?" He lamely said. His tail flickered as a bubbling nervousness filled him. Shit had he been out there that long? He could've sworn it was less than that.

"No one's seen you since lunch Tommy." She added crossing her arms over her chest. "I was told you and some boys went into the woods."

 _Fuck…_

"Tommy. I want you to tell me what happ-"

"TOMMY! There you are!"

The toon snapped his head to the kitchen's second doorway where a teen of nineteen rushed over to him. She practically crushed him into a hug, almost making him drop the apples he had with him. The teen then let him go and looked to him in a scolding manner.

"I told you not to go take that walk to the woods!" She ranted before turning to Ms. Margaret with a look of surprised before it turned into genuine apologetic smile. "Oh Ms. Margret! I didn't notice you there."

Tommy watched the girl's display and looked to the elder woman. She was fully surprised by the teen's abrupt coming. He felt a forced pat on his head and winced. He had forgotten about the bump.

"I was just gonna go take Tommy to his room." The teen said as she stopped patting Tommy on the head, much to his relief. "Poor boy completely just lost track of time. I take complete responsibility! I was supposed to tell him and his friends to come back. Foolish of me to lose my own watch and take on a job like that isn't that right?"

Tommy looked back and forth between the actress of a teenager and the baffled woman. That pack of lies was just about as cheesy as you could get, but Ms. Margaret seemed to be eating it up. Good riddance.

"I...I suppose so." Ms. Margaret said cautiously. Then her expression changed back to a strict one. "Miss Kathy?"

Kathy would win an Oscar with the casual and polite smile she gave the woman. It completely countered the nervousness in Tommy's own expression he had failed to hide. "Yes Ms. Margaret?"

"Will you please explain to me why Mr. Thomas was the only one to return late when the other boys came back in time for dinner?"

Tommy's heart fell to his stomach when Kathy stood quiet for several seconds. _Oh come on Kathy. Don't freeze up on me now!_

The silence broke when Kathy gave off a chuckle. "Oh that. The boys just told that this little rascal." She grabbed Tommy's arm towards her startling him. "Wanted to enjoy the woods a bit more. You know all that be one with nature stuff. He just lost track of time, miss. It can happen to anyone."

"I mean clearly he didn't expect that storm." Kathy pointed out and she gestured the darkened sky through the side kitchen window. "That thing just came out of nowhere!"

"No if you don't mind." Kathy intervened for the third time before the elder woman could speak. She began to pull Tommy towards the doorway she had come from. "I'd best get the boy to his room. No use letting him stay in these clothes!"

Tommy could barely register how quickly Kathy dragged him out there. He let a small grin slip onto his face. Okay. He'll admit it. Seeing the look on Ms. Margaret's face had been priceless. He should've taken a picture.

There was an abrupt halt and the toon nearly crashed into the teen. He looked to her and his ears fell under her glare.

"Tommy...I swear one of these days you will give me a heart attack."

Unlike Ms. Margaret the concern voiced in Kathy's voice was hidden under her scorning tone. He dropped his gaze feeling her harsh stare soon soften with a sigh. Kathy let him go and turned to him arms crossed over her chest.

"Tommy-"

"Drop it."

Kathy paused once Tommy met her gaze. His firm tone had surprised her. His narrowed gaze as well.

"Just drop it." He hissed.

Kathy returned the gaze. "Don't give me that tough guy crap." She put a hand on her hip and bent down to reach his eye level. She dropped her voice to a low and firm tone. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I was thisclose to going out there and finding you myself! You had me thinking those rats had killed you off and disposed the body in the nearest river!"

Tommy had the nerve to roll his eyes. "Gee. Where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him?"

"Damn it Tommy this is not a joke!" Kathy hissed with enough frustration to get Tommy to look at her, but of course he was unfazed by the outburst. He had seen it enough times to be used to it. The teen stood up straight pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried calming herself.

"You know what?"

The teen looked to him, he stared her dead in the eyes.

"My fucking life's a joke." Tommy continued. "I have enough reminders. Don't be so naive Kathy."

He brushed past the shocked teen. "I'm going to my room. Good day."

Tommy broke out into a sprint by the time Kathy called out his name, vanished from her sight around the corner of the hall before she could blink.

The toon rushed down the hall. The voices in the house getting louder the deeper he went in. He made a quick right and came to a stop before sending himself flat against the wall. His ears went up for the sound of running or maybe footsteps, but all he heard was talking from nearby. He stayed there for a minute or two before deciding Kathy wasn't going to go after him this time and took himself off the wall. Standing in the hall he looked to his hands. The apples were still in his grasp, now bruised due to the pressure he put on them. That and the one he bit was browning, but they were still good.

He stuffed the unbitten one in his sweater pocket while he took another bite from the other as he walked down the hall. He wanted to go back to his room, get out of these clothes, and be alone for the rest of this damn day. Didn't he deserve that much?

"Hey Timmy!"

Tommy froze in his tracks, choking on his apple for the second time today.

"Man Terence, give the boy some warning." Another voice called out as Tommy hit a hand to his chest when the apple got clogged in his throat. "He looks like he's about to crap his pants."

Laughter rang out and Tommy swallowed the remaining apple, it scratched against his throat. A low growl escaped him. The universe just loves him, doesn't it? The toon turned to the voices.

"I'd say you look good." Terence smirked. "But to be honest I've seen trash with better taste than yourself."

Terence's little posse laughed making the grin on Terence's face grow. Tommy resisted the urge to throw the apple at his face, but then again it'd fix the idiot's buck teeth, knock them right out. Seriously, what kind a duck has teeth?

Terence saw the scowl on Tommy's face and grinned. The mallard duck toon made his way off the couch and over to the living room's doorway which Tommy had been passing by. Both human and toon teens alike were in the living room. A few of them looked to the scene out of curiosity, but the others partily ignored it. The ones who really had their attention on him was Terence's gang.

"Have fun hanging around in the woods?" Terence sneered as he leaned an arm against the doorway looking down at Tommy. "From what I hear, you could use more blood flow to the head."

"They got drugs for that ya know!" A bulldog toon hollered from inside the living room. And of course snickers joined in.

Terence groaned and looked to the dog toon. "Shut up Benji."

"Hey. I'm not done." Terence said seeing Tommy walk off.

Jaw clenched Tommy forced himself back around, but was caught off guard when the duck had pulled something from behind his back.

"Missing something?" Terence said waving Tommy's hat back forth.

Tommy looked to his hat. It looked fine despite the smudges of dirt on it. Terence must've taken it after he ran with the other guys as soon as they finished tying Tommy up. Everything had been too blurry at the time to see who grabbed it.

Eyes narrowed Tommy held out a hand. "Give it back Terence."

When the duck didn't bother to respond, Tommy made a grab for the hat, but the duck was quicker.

"Oh so close." Terence taunted removing himself from the doorway and holding the hat higher from his reach. "Why don't you try again?"

Tommy fumed as the other teens laughed, some even mocked him with encouragement to grab the hat. Stubbornly Tommy tried again, but the hat was too high and Terence holding it higher wasn't helping him. The laughter only grew, even the one watching joined in in the jeering.

"Give him the hat Terence." A rabbit in the far loveseat called out. "Before the drama queen comes to save the kid's ass."

Terence groaned. "I hate that chick...alright. Here." The duck chucked the hat at Tommy.

He quickly caught it and without another moment's hesitation turned and stomped off.

"Hope you like the gift we left you!" was the last thing Tommy heard Terence holler as he rushed for the nearest staircase and ran all the way up.

Their laughter died down the further Tommy went up. By the time he had reached the second floor he quit running and slowed to trudging up the stairs. At the top step he leaned his back against the banister, sliding down to sit. There was no one up here so Tommy had the whole hall for himself at the moment. It was quiet, but listening carefully he could make out the mix of conversation from everyone down below. They had moved on from the scene where he made a fool of himself and went back to normal conversation.

Tommy placed the two apples he still had with him in his sweater pockets, making the wet material stretch and looked at his hat. Five seconds later he regretted the decision. On the green bill of the his blue cap were capital black letters. They spelled out a single word.

Freak.

Tommy couldn't have stood fast enough. He stormed down the hall and went straight for the door at the very end of the hall. He yanked it open and slammed it behind him.

The familiar surroundings of his room met his eye. A single bed stood against the left wall with navy blue covers and a pillow placed near the headrest. He had a desk in the far right corner with lamp, a mess of paper, and some pencils covering it while a dresser sat in the opposite corner, his closet right between them both. The back wall held the only window in the room.

Finding himself here he sighed and walked over to his bed. The mattress creaked when he sat on it, after that the only sound heard came from the pounding rain outside. A glance to the window was all he needed to see how bad it had gotten. The clouds were an ugly gray, lightning flashed every minute or so, he could barely see out the window thanks to the water streaking down the glass. The cracks of thunder along with the thick walls muffled any other noise. One noise in particular caught his attention. His growling stomach.

Remembering the apples he pulled them out from his sweater pockets. He put the hat down and laid the apples besides it before getting up and off the bed. As hungry as he was he wanted out of his wet clothes first. Walking to his dresser the toon pulled the soaked sweater off his body throwing it to the ground in a pile. He would deal with it later.

Yanking open the top drawer he peered inside spotting a clean green sweater at the very top of his shirts. Shrugging he grabbed it.

"Kathy always said green suited me better anyway." Tommy said aloud to himself pulling the sweater over his head. As he got his arms into the sleeves he closed the top drawer and opened the middle one. He took the top pair of pants, some brown ones.

Once he had take off his soaked blue jeans and put on the clean pants he snatched the dropped sweater.

"And in you go!" Tommy said tossing both pants and sweater into the hamper he had inside his closet. Another growl from his stomach made him remember the apples. He quickly closed the closet and made a beeline back for his bed.

Grabbing his previously bitten apple the toon took three hungry bites before spotting his hat. The black letters still clear as day. He took another bite of his apple, eyeing the hat as he chewed thoughtfully. Seconds later he grabbed one of the other apples and snagged his hat with it. If Terence thought he was just going to let his hat be stained by the duck's dirty trick he thought wrong.

Tommy went over to his desk pulling the stool out of its compartment underneath it and sat down. He tossed his hat on the desk and flipped the lamp's light on. The storm outside had blocked any outside light from entering the room so lamp light was all he had.

Tommy put down both apples and opened his side drawer. Scanning its contents he reached into the jumble of art supplies he called organized. The clink and clatter of color pencils along with paintbrushes and just about a bunch of other junk filled the air. He spot the fabric paintbrush he needed at grabbed it, slamming close the drawer and turning to his right opening the small top drawer. Here small bottles of different paints were placed. His eyes went over the different bottles, his lips moving as he quietly read the labels. None of the paints were in different colored bottles, instead they were held in black plastic ones with a single label slapped on with the bottle's color and paint type. Tommy found the one he needed and snatched it out closing the drawer.

"Ugh." Tommy wrinkled his nose opening the bottle of green fabric paint. "This stuff always stinks."

Setting the bottle down Tommy took another quick bite of his apple before grabbing sheets of blank paper. These he placed on the desk and put the hat on top of them. The toon fixed the lamp, shining it's light right onto the hat. He grabbed the paint and brush.

His eyes went to the words. With narrowed eyes he took hold of the hat. Globs of green paint were squeezed out of the bottle, tracing the letters. The shade of paint he had with him wasn't exactly the same shade as his hat's bill, but for now he just needed to cover the words enough to not be seen. Finishing with the paint he put down the bottle, closing it and grabbed the brush. He went straight to work.

The next hour was spent brushing the paint over the letters, then letting the paint dry before applying more. He wanted them gone.

Once he finished the paper on the desk was speckled with green dots, thankfully not much had gotten onto the desk, and his two apples eaten to the cores. Tommy put down his brush on the paper and took the hat into the light. The letters were practically gone. You would need to look closely to differentiate the shades of green and spot the covered letters. Tommy looked over his work once more.

"It'll have to do." He said satisfied, putting the hat down on the paper to dry.

A tired sigh left him as he arched his back enough to feel the stiffness residing all along his spine. Spending that time hunched over his desk had allowed his aches to settle in. At the most he had bruises hiding underneath the fur of his arms and chest. He hoped his hair, and his hat, once it dried, was enough to cover the bump on his head. Hopefully it would go down in a few days.

His moment of rest was ruined by a giant crack of thunder. Tommy practically jumped out of his seat hearing it. He looked to the window seeing the rain hadn't bothered to stop. He let out an irritated sigh, before a loud beeping made his heart take another leap.

"What the-" Realization hit Tommy and he scowled getting up from his stool. "Stupid alarm…"

Stomping over to his dresser he snatched the little beeper off and shut it off with a quick jab of his finger. He tossed the thing back where it landed with a clatter.

Tommy's breathing was all more clear to him as he let silence fill his ears. It was rushed, probably from anger. He pinched the bridge of his nose and soon his breathing steadied. With a suck of breath he kneeled down and pulled the bottom drawer open. He had to move several pairs of socks out of the way, but that familiar pill bottle came into view. It was innocent enough, could pass off as a vitamin bottle if you didn't read it closely, but just the sight of it made Tommy's ink boil. He took the bottle into his hand and turned it over for him to see what it said.

'MEDICATION. TAKE TWO TO THREE PILLS DAILY BY MOUTH' was what it said in giant letters over the span of the label.

His hand curled into a fist around the bottle. It took him only seconds to throw it back inside his sock drawer and slam the thing close. The toon sighed and dragged a hand down his face.

With a sudden want for sleep Tommy stood up slowly and walked back to his desk. He flipped off the lamp, letting a nice and soothing darkness cover the room. He looked to his hat. It would dry by morning.

He went over to his bed and saw the other apples he had left. Tommy grabbed them and went over to his dresser. He put them there and grabbed the beeper. Seven pm was what the clock on the little thing read. He gently put it down and went back over to his bed. Once the covers were pulled back he plopped onto it. Tommy stripped off his sweater and pants, leaving him in only boxers. He draped both over the headrest and lifted his legs onto the bed before making himself comfortable. Once he let his head rest on his pillow the sounds coming from the storm traveled back to him.

The storm had let up. The softening pitter patter of rain against his bedroom window was surprisingly soothing. This with the darkness, out of all things, made him drowsy. His mind went over the events of today. It hadn't been a good day. Not by a mile.

As he closed his eyes he hoped for a better day tomorrow. Pray that someone above let Terence forget his existence, that Ms. Margret go pity some other hopeless sap, and just let one day go well for him.

It was a empty wish, but one that let Tommy drift off to sleep. A good night's rest was the least he could give himself after a day like this.

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Thanks for making it this far guys! And also review! The Queen is out!


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